The present invention is directed to video standards converters. More particularly, the present invention is directed to video standards converters for converting standards of video devices employed in connection with the medical field.
Urology suites typically contain two or more devices, such as a monochrome X-ray system or a color endoscope, for displaying video images. Often, the devices operate at different frequencies (or “standards”) and thus provide video sources at different standards. Standards include NTSC/PAL, computer video (VESA standards) as well as proprietary scanning frequencies and resolutions. Conventional video standards converters (VSCs) are devices that convert a single video input to a single video output. Because conventional VSCs convert only a single video input, conventional VSCs are not capable of reducing the number of video display devices employed in a urology suite or in another system with multiple video sources.
In conventional medical systems, when multiple video sources are employed that have different standards, multiple display devices are needed for a physician to be able to view the video sources. The functionality of a urology suite, however, suffers when urologists need to view more than one monitor simultaneously. There is a need to reduce the total number of monitors in order to provide improved functionality.
To improve urology suite functionality, it is desirable to reduce the number of monitors while providing quality video from several sources. Typically, equipment designed with an external video input requires inputs or sources with matching video standards. For example, an NTSC endoscope with external video input requires the external video source to be NTSC. However, the other source to be used with the video display of the endoscope may be capable of far superior video scan rates and resolution than NTSC. Thus, there is a need to accommodate multiple video sources without significantly compromising the quality of the video sources when displayed.